Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,1

kind of cancer she had. I knew your last name. This is a very common thing," I lie again.

Lies upon lies, but it's all for a good cause, right? That makes it okay.

She looks at me as if she is going to throw up. I know that she doesn't believe me, but I can't bring myself to tell her the truth.

"So you looked it up? You called the clinic and what? They just told you about her medical condition?"

I take a deep breath and breathe out just as quickly.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I hang my head in between my shoulders.

"I liked you a lot, okay?” I say, lifting up my eyes and looking at her through my hair. “We have this connection from the first time that we met. I told you that when I went back to the Redemption, I just couldn't complete the deal with anyone else. You were different."

"Okay, whatever."

Jacqueline gets up. She starts to walk away from me, but I grab her hand and pull her closer to me.

"Not whatever, it's the truth,” I whisper.

"What does this have to do with my mother?"

"I told them that I was going to pay the bill. I didn't need any medical information, but I didn't want my name to be revealed. A lot of donors do that and they're happy to accept payment from anyone as long as the check clears."

"I don't believe you."

I shrug and press on. "That's why I did that. I wanted to help you and your mom. I'm sorry that the surgery did not turn out like you had planned, but it seemed to be her best bet according to her doctors, right? According to everyone you spoke to."

Tears start to roll down her cheeks. "You had no right to do this. You lied to me."

"But it was a nice thing."

"I don't care!” Jacqueline screams, grabbing her jacket and purse.

She throws her feet into her boots and, without lacing them up, she walks out the front door, slamming it shut behind her.

When she leaves, darkness engulfs the room. Not knowing what to do, I plop down on the bed and stare at the ceiling for what feels like forever.

After I'm certain that she's not coming back anytime soon, I get on my laptop and read the email requesting additional money for all of the additional expenses that her mom is now incurring as a result of the complications.

The decision is simple. I'll pay it even though the surgery has cost me quite a bit already. Maybe I'm just trying to make up for what I did wrong.

When I first started watching Jacqueline, I just wanted to make sure that she was okay, but then something had changed.

I found someone I connected with. Jacqueline was the only one who could break through all of my walls. And when we spent time together, I started to fall for her.

I wait for her to return for the rest of the day, but she doesn't.

I wait late into the night.

I call room service and order two three-course dinners at the hotel restaurant, Champagne, a bouquet of roses, anything to show her how sorry I am.

She doesn't show up.

I call her phone and no one answers. I text her and I get no response. When I realize that she’s spending the night somewhere else, I sit in the dark and drink the bottle alone.

2

Jacqueline

I read the words on the screen over and over again to make sure that my eyes are not deceiving me. The email is addressed to Dante. It's from the Danick Clinic, and they're requesting additional money from him in order to pay for the rest of my mother's treatment.

The rest?

I confront Dante and he denies it immediately, not the emails so much, but the process by which he found out about it.

I don't remember telling him about my mother, and if I did, I don't remember being so specific. But I can't deny the fact that he found her name probably through me and went all this way out of his way to pay the quarter of a million dollar bill anonymously.

Why? Why would he do this?

I mean, yes, we had some sort of connection initially, but there has to be another reason for going all this way.

Why lie?

And if he's not lying, why this in the first place?

My mind goes in circles.

I don't know what to think or what to believe. The more I talk to him, the more confused I